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Arachnophobia (film)
| screenplay = | story = | starring = | music = Trevor Jones | cinematography = Mikael Salomon | editing = Michael Kahn | studio = | distributor = Buena Vista Pictures | released = | runtime = 110 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $22 million | gross = $53.2 million }} Arachnophobia is a 1990 American black comedy horror film directed by Frank Marshall and starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman. It was the first film released by The Walt Disney Studios' Hollywood Pictures label, as well as being the directorial debut of Marshall. The film's story centers on a newly discovered Venezuelan spider being transported to a small American town that produces a new species of deadly spiders, which begin killing the town's residents one by one. Shooting took place in Venezuela and California and the film was released in the United States on July 18, 1990. It was a modest commercial success, gaining $53.21 million at the box office and received generally positive reviews from critics. Plot Entomologist Dr. James Atherton searches the Amazon rainforest with the hope of discovering new species of insects and arachnids finding a very aggressive new species of spider. The spider is captured and chloroformed for research; and is later revealed to be lacking sex organs, thus making it a drone, or soldier. A nature photographer, Jerry Manley unknowingly has a fertile (non-drone) male spider of the same species jump into his backpack, later that day sneaking into his sleeping bag and biting him. Manley has a massive seizure from the venom and dies. The remainder of the scientists take his body back to the United States, blaming Manley's death on a fever. The spider crawls into the box and is sealed in with the corpse. Manley's body arrives at the funeral home in his hometown of Canaima, California. The spider makes it outside, only to be picked by a crow until the spider bites it and it falls to the ground dead, in front of the barn of the Jennings family. Ross Jennings is a family physician, who had moved to the town from San Francisco. He faces a lack of patients due to elderly rival Sam Metcalf, who was supposed to retire and shift his patients to Ross, but decided to maintain his practice. The Amazonian spider mates with a female domestic house spider and makes a nest in Jennings' barn, producing hundreds of infertile drone offspring, all of which have a lethal bite. Ross, along with his son Tommy, has arachnophobia, making them targets of ridicule to wife Molly and daughter Shelly. Ross's first patient, Margaret Hollins, dies after being bitten. Metcalf diagnoses a heart attack, although Ross suspects that something else was at work. After a spider also kills a football player whom Ross treated, he becomes known to the town as "Dr. Death". When Metcalf himself is bitten, in his own bedroom, and dies, Ross suspects deadly arachnids could be infesting the town. Ross and county coroner Milton Briggs perform an autopsy on the victims and confirm Ross' suspicion that the deaths were caused by spider bites. Atherton arrives in town with his assistant Chris Collins, joining Briggs, Sheriff Lloyd Parsons and exterminator Delbert McClintock in the spider investigation. They discover that the killer spiders have a short life expectancy due to being a mixed breed. Atherton tells them that the spiders are soldiers, sent out to eliminate potential threats for the general male spider. He also learns that the general spider produced a queen, which it likely mated with to produce a second nest someplace, guarded by the queen, which could produce fertile offspring. Atherton elaborates that the transplanted spiders can progressively expand their territory, possibly culminating in their worldwide dispersal. The group sets out to destroy both nests and kill the queen and general. Deducing that the nest is in his barn, Ross sends Delbert to destroy it. Delbert finds Atherton dead, having been bitten by the general after disturbing the web. Chris gets the Jennings family out of their infested house, but Ross falls through the floor into his wine cellar, which turns out to be the spiders' second nest, guarded not only by the queen but also the general spider. After electrocuting the queen, Ross battles the general while also attempting to burn the second egg sac. He becomes trapped underneath fallen debris, with the general about to deliver the killing strike, when Ross flings the general into the fire. As the egg sac hatches, the general jumps out of the fire. Ross shoots it with a nail gun and the projectile sends the burning spider into the egg sac, destroying the nest with fire and ending the plague. The Jennings family immediately moves back to San Francisco, appreciating city life once more, despite such minor inconveniences as earthquakes. Cast * Jeff Daniels as Dr. Ross Jennings * Harley Jane Kozak as Molly Jennings * John Goodman as Delbert McClintock * Julian Sands as Dr. James Atherton * Brian McNamara as Chris Collins * James Handy as Milton Briggs * Peter Jason as Henry Beechwood * Henry Jones as Dr. Sam Metcalf * Frances Bay as Evelyn Metcalf * Roy Brocksmith as Irv Kendall * Kathy Kinney as Blaire Kendall * Stuart Pankin as Sheriff Lloyd Parsons * Mary Carver as Margaret Hollins * Marlene Katz as Shelly Jennings Production Filmmaker Steven Spielberg was involved with Arachnophobia, with one of his earlier producers Frank Marshall directing for the first time. Spielberg and Marshall are both the executive producers of the film.Leonard Maltin, ed., Leonard Maltin's 2002 Movie & Video Guide. A Signet Book, 2001, p. 58. Amblin Entertainment also helped produce it. Marshall meant for the film to be like Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, and added, "People like to be scared but laughing, like a roller coaster. No one wants to be terrified."Kenneth Turan and New York Times, "The spiders are No. 1 on this set; Working with a herd of erratic arachnids poses special problems for human actors", Edmonton Journal, April 15, 1990, pg. D5 The film also has similarities with the 1977 film Kingdom of the Spiders.Kingdom of the Spiders/Fun Facts. The Deuce: Grindhouse Cinema Database, January 29, 2009; retrieved January 27, 2012. Producer Igo Kantor hinted in his Fangoria interview that Arachnophobia, which Spielberg produced, bears several similarities to Kingdom of the Spiders. "I thought it was a copy", Kantor stated, "but you don't go and sue Spielberg!" Jamie Hyneman, of MythBusters fame, stated in Popular Mechanics''Page 44, Nov 2006 issue that ''Arachnophobia was one of the first movies he worked on and that he often relied on simple magnets for several of the effects. The film made use of over 300 Avondale spiders, from New Zealand, which were picked for their large size, unusually social lifestyle, and because they are essentially harmless to humans. They were guided around the set by the use of heat and cold, but the large "general" and "queen" were articulated models. The movie was actually filmed in Southern Venezuela for the intro sequence and the jungle scenes, as well as Cambria, California. All the school scenes were filmed at Coast Union High School. Students and staff were used in the football scenes and group events. The locker room and players were the actual students and players from CUHS.18 Creepy Facts about Arachnophobia. Mental Floss. To create the sound effects of spiders being stepped on or squished, Foley artists stepped on mustard packs or squashed potato chips.Rick Gamble, "A stinging commentary", Expositor, Brantford, Ontario: April 22, 2006, pg. D7. Release and reception Arachnophobia was the first film released by Hollywood Pictures.Michael Walsh, "Less-than-terrific tension in this failed spider's web", The Province, Vancouver, British Columbia: July 22, 1990, pg. 85. Advertisers were uncertain as to whether they should market the film as a thriller or a comedy. Therefore, television spots promoting the film billed it as a "thrill-omedy".Bill Provick, "Arachnophobia fun- for those who can stand it", The Ottawa Citizen, March 16, 1991, pg. G7. Box office Arachnophobia debuted at #3 behind Ghost and Die Hard 2 with $8 million in its first weekend. The film was a financial success,"Here are the top 40 money-making entertainers; Bill Cosby No. 1 at $60M a year", The Ottawa Citizen, September 18, 1990, pg. D7. grossing $53,208,180 domestically"1990 "Domestic Grosses", Box Office Mojo; accessed May 19, 2006. and going on to gross an additional $30,000,000 in video rentals. This allowed Spielberg to be the fourth wealthiest entertainer of the year, having previously been the second wealthiest. Critics In his book, critic Leonard Maltin calls the film a "slick comic thriller" and approves of the acting, warning, "Not recommended for anyone who's ever covered their eyes during a movie." Newsweek associated the film with B movies "about the small town threatened by alien invaders", and said it was well made but "oddly unresonant."D. Ansen, "A choice of chuckles", Newsweek, 23 July 1990, vol. 116, issue 4, p. 64. Roger Ebert said the film made audiences "squirm out of enjoyment, not terror", giving it three stars out of four.Roger Ebert, "Arachnophobia", Chicago Sun-Times, July 18, 1990. On the review website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 36 reviews, and an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Arachnophobia may not deliver genuine chills, but it's an affectionate, solidly built tribute to Hollywood's classic creature features." The film drew protests from some people interested in spiders, as they believed the film tarnished the public image of spiders.Jennie Punter, "HOPE 'THRILL-OMEDIES' DISAPPEAR AS FAST AS THIS FILM", The Whig-Standard, July 27, 1990, pg. 1. Accolades Home media The film was first released on VHS in 1991. It was then released as a bare bones DVD in 1999. The film was released on Blu-ray on September 25, 2012. VHS and DVD releases by Hollywood/Buena Vista Home Video curiously omit the original poster art's spider from their cover design, however the Blu-ray now reinstates it. Merchandising Unusually, the video game version of Arachnophobia was also released in 1991, for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and DOS.""Arachnophobia". MobyGames. Accessed 6 April 2007. There is also a novelization of Arachnophobia written by author Nicholas Edwards.[http://openlibrary.org/books/OL24980847M/Arachnophobia Arachnophobia], OpenLibrary.org; accessed February 11, 2012. A soundtrack album for the film, also called Arachnophobia, was released in 1990. It included Trevor Jones's instrumental music from the film as well as dialogue excerpts and songs such as "Blue Eyes Are Sensitive to the Light" by Sara Hickman, "Caught in Your Web (Swear to Your Heart)" by Russell Hitchcock, and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" by Tony Bennett. The European version of the album has the same cover art, but more score tracks, fewer songs and no dialogue. The two versions share 10 of the same tracks, but these are also not without their differences: several tracks are noticeably shorter on the European version like "Canaima Nightmare", which is nearly three minutes shorter; and another track has two different titles ("Cellar Theme" in America and "The Cellar" in Europe). See also * List of American films of 1990 * Cultural depictions of spiders References External links * * * * Category:1990 films Category:1990 horror films Category:1990s comedy horror films Category:Amblin Entertainment films Category:American comedy horror films Category:American natural horror films Category:Directorial debut films Category:English-language films Category:Films about spiders Category:Films directed by Frank Marshall Category:Films produced by Kathleen Kennedy Category:Films set in the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Films set in San Francisco Category:Films set in Venezuela Category:Films shot in California Category:Films shot in San Francisco Category:Films shot in Venezuela Category:Hollywood Pictures films Category:Disney franchises Category:Films scored by Trevor Jones